Is it over yet? Is the 2025 season over yet? Just when you think life as a New York Giants fan can’t get any worse, they go out and lay a 34-24 stinker against the San Francisco 49ers — dropping to 2-7 — and somehow, it gets worse.
Before the game even started, Giants fans flew a plane over MetLife Stadium asking ownership to "Clean house." And after another embarrassing loss from head coach Brian Daboll's squad, it's hard not to ask for change. At what point are things going to change?
Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart had a pretty insignificant performance overall, finishing the game 24-of-33 for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns (inflated by garbage time). He also added 56 rushing yards on eight carries for a touchdown. Here are four observations from Dart's relatively forgettable Week 9 loss to the Niners.
4 takeaways from Jaxon Dart's underwhelming performance vs 49ers
Hot starts are here to stay
There’s a clear disconnect between how the Giants play offense in the first quarter and how they play the rest of the game. Receiving the opening kickoff, Dart led the G‑Men to a touchdown on their opening drive.
It was efficient and felt like they were hungry to make a statement. The 22‑year‑old drove Big Blue down the field on 10 plays for 64 yards in four minutes and 10 seconds, capping it off with a 15‑yard touchdown pass to tight end Theo Johnson. He continues to start hot in the first quarter but loses that magic as the game goes on.
The dinks-and-dunks won't cut it
The lack of explosiveness in the offense is alarming. Not having star receiver Malik Nabers and electric rookie running back Cam Skattebo certainly hurts, but it’s obvious they have no one who can stretch the field.
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Dart averaged 5.8 yards per attempt on 24 completions, which is just not good enough. There’s a clear lack of a reliable deep threat or even someone who can win a 50‑50 ball. Look no further than the constant dink‑and‑dunk playcalling coming from offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. It’s almost like he knows the offense doesn’t have the juice to do anything else.
A fourth-quarter drive in garbage time saved his stats a bit, but make no mistake about it, that was more on prevent defense from San Fran than anything the G-Men cooked up.
He takes too many big hits
Coming out of college, Dart was known as a guy who could and would utilize his legs to move the offense down the field. On too many occasions, he tries to do too much or holds onto the ball too long to make something happen — because his teammates can’t — and pays the price for it.
Instead of sliding, he takes on unnecessary contact, leading to bigger hits than anyone in the organization—or any fan—wants to see. Nothing was more indicative than 49ers defensive end Clelin Ferrell absolutely leveling him for a sack. Fortunately, it didn’t result in a turnover or injury, but both could’ve easily happened.
Then, on his last touchdown drive in the fourth, he took a brutal hit on a 10-yard run, trying his best to make the scoreboard look closer than what the game actually was.
He'll have to get used to this thing called losing
Dart doesn’t like losing. Not many of us do. But this is what life as a Giant looks like right now. After picking up his fourth‑career loss, it’s hard to believe things will turn around in 2025. Daboll and Kafka just aren’t putting him in a position to win, and you have to hope it doesn’t ruin his development.
The Giants are failing Jaxson Dart.